Very sick Chin

[ashes]

Hello! I'm quite new to this forum, but not new to owning chinchilla's. We've had our male Chin for about 5 years now, and ever since we got him he's had dental problems.

He basically displays every single sign of malocclusion without the bumps under his jaw or under his eyes. We've had him on Sulfa before, and that works perfectly but the moment the medication is done all of the symptoms just come right back. We're at the end of our tethers and I don't know what to do.

Our Vet doesn't think he has malocclusion, but we also haven't had him x-ray'd because we just don't have the money.

If anyone has suggestions or help it would be greatly appreciated.

thanks, Ashes

 

[Laurie]

The only way you are going to be able to determine malo is with xrays. A vet cannot determine this without xrays. The only way you will know is with xrays. You need to find a way to get these down for your chin so you can go from there. Chins exhibiting symptoms of malo would be chins not eating, drooling, watery eyes, pawing at the mouth. At best this would be a chin in pain and would need pain meds. This would also be a chin who is not eating and would need to be hand fed.

The most humane thing for your chin is to have xrays done to determine if it is malo--some forms of malo can be treated for a time with regular filings. But eventually a chinchilla with malo is going to either die from it or need to be put down to ease it's suffering.

I have not experienced this with any of my chins. We have members that are quite knowledgeable of malo and it's symptoms and treatment. Hopefully someone will be on soon to help answer your questions should my answer not be enough

 

[Dolyphinm]

If you can feel bumps under his jaw and he has had dental problems in the past, it sadly might be to time to let him go and be pain free no longer. The roots of his upper teeth could be growing into his sinus cavity or worse yet. The only way you can be sure is x-rays as Laurie said. If you can feel bumps x-rays are needed to know if it's the root of the teeth or another reason for it. Maybe he just needs a tooth filing, maybe it's the worst case scenario and you need to find that out for the sake of your sweet little boy.


Good luck.

 

[ticklechin]

If the chin does well on the antibiotic and symptoms return when its stopped it points to a chronic infection going on. A abscess can mimic malo symptoms, how long do you use the antibiotic for? Has the chin ever been put under and had a oral exam done? How do you treat the symptoms when they occur, do you handfeed? The problem with letting a infection just go on is it can become a really bad issue if the infection invades the bone and the chin developes osteomylitis, a bone infection that has no real effective treatment. The chin really does need a full evaluation with x-rays, but if that is not a option anyway anyhow then the next best advice I have is get a long term prescription for the sulfa and keep the chin on it since it relieves symptoms and keeps the chins quality of life stable and save up money to have the chin evaluated.

 

[ashes]

Thanks everyone!

We know he needs to have x-rays done, but at the moment we just can't financially do it. (Trust me. It's killing us that we keep having to put this off.)

When he's on the antibiotic, he's on it for a week. And for about two weeks afterwords, he's perfectly fine, then everything just goes downhill again.

At the moment, we're feeding him with an syring and some liquid food from out vet, until we can get him seen next month. I'll have to see if our vet will take some kind of payment plan and get the x-rays done because I don't want him in pain if this is never going to get any better.

 

[mishellyshel]

My dental chin was on the tri meth sulfa for way longer than 1 week. The vet said because it is mild he could be on it longer. She calls it in to my regular pharmacy so a large bottle is only 10-15 bucks.
I would definitely explain the situation to you vet & see if they will help you out. Is your vet knowledgeable about chins. Too many times I see people posting that they have to take their chins to several vets and foot the bill for all of them. That is even tougher when your funds are limited.

 

[ticklechin]

20 days on, 10 off, 20 days on is used when treating dental infections in chins using a sulfa drug. Your chin may have not been on it long enough to kill off whatever infection is there such as a abscess, I would ask the vet for a refill of the prescription for a longer term.

 

[mishellyshel]

Thanks Dawn.....cause I wanted to say that but I didn't want to think I was advocating self medicating! That is exactly the regimine I used with richie.So definitely consult with your chins vet.